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Butler leads the all-time series 22-17 and won both meetings last year. Butler has won 5 straight in the series, 7 of 8, and 11 of the last 14. Butler is MUís Big East Kryptonite.
Butler has conference wins, St. Johns 80-71, @ DePaul 87-69, and Creighton 84-69, while losing at Seton Hall, at Xavier, at Creighton Depaul 75-74. The Pirates have lost at home to common opponent Louisville, 70-65.

The game features the best two free throw shooting teams in the Big East. MU is shooting 77.6% as a team from the charity stripe, while Butler shoots 73.6%. The big difference behind those numbers though is that Marquette has made more free throws (349) than Butler has attempted (311).

Kamar Baldwin (#3), a 6-1 Jr., is Butlerís best player, leading the team in scoring (17.6), rebounding (5.4), assists (3.8), and minutes played (34.9).

Neither team is efficient in creating turnovers. BU is 9th with 5.6 steals/game and MU is 10th with 5.5 steals/game. Butler values the basketball and is 2nd in BE with Turnover margin of +2.5, while Marquette is 9th with a margin of -1.5.

The Big East has two teams with a conference winning record. Villanova at 7-0 and Marquette at 7-1. The rest of the league is below .500 in conference play with 3 teams currently at 3-4 and 5 teams at 3-5. Unless some of the sub .500 teams turn their season around, I think the Big East will only get 3 (for sure) or 4 (likely) teams into the NCAA. While a 5th team in the dance is in serious jeopardy.

This will be a tough game for Marquette. Not because it is not the better team, but with MUís struggle vs. Butler, this game will likely come down to the last 5 minutes of the game. I am going with Marquetteís ability to shoot the 3, their ability to control the glass, and more scoring options as MU squeaks out a 72-68 road victory to end their losing streak to Butler. Donít think this one will be pretty.